What a grand old party it's going to be Monday when all those countries and financial institutions that have forever plundered, exploited and impoverished Haiti will gather in Montreal at the invitation of the government of Canada to decide its future. Of course there will be a few new faces at the table – Brazil, maybe even a couple of Haiti's neighbours, though I'm not sure Cuba or Venezuela are invited. And who knows? Some Haitians may even come along.
But mostly this meeting is promoted by those who like to call themselves, and whom the media will call, the donor countries. What is important to note about most donor countries, including Canada, is that they have always extracted far more from the poor recipient countries than they've contributed. Poor countries, in reality, have been net donors to us rich folks.
In my little book, The Betrayal of Africa, I document how this works on that continent. Basically, it's the collusion between monstrous African leaders and Western governments and corporations, overseen by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, to enrich themselves at the expense of the people of the continent.
As it happens, Haiti is a perfect Caribbean example of this same conspiracy between tyrannical local leaders and the rich world pitted against the people of the country.
The successful development of the rich world depended greatly on Africa. The slaves shipped to the Western hemisphere created a good part of the capital that fuelled the industrial revolutions in Europe and the United States. France, which took over Haiti from Spain, made a killing from the labour of hundreds of thousands of African slaves who worked Haiti's once-rich natural resources. Hard to believe now, but in the 18th century Haiti was France's imperial jewel, and thanks to African slave labour the largest sugar exporter in the world.
In 1804, the slaves gloriously revolted against France, making Haiti the world's first free black republic. It never had a chance. Slave-owning America refused for 60 years to recognize the new state. Using gunboat diplomacy, France, backed by the United States, demanded generous compensation for its lost property, including its former slaves. Haiti had no choice but capitulation. The amount was 150-million gold francs, five times the country's annual revenue. To pay, Haiti had to borrow from France itself and from banks in Europe and the U.S. at usurious rates.
This debt effectively strangled Haiti's growth while further enriching Western bankers. Instead of building a stable economy, much of Haiti's budget for the next 120 years actually went to debt payment. Not till 1947 was the debt finally paid off. A few years ago, the government of Haiti, under Jean-Bertrand Aristide, demanded that France repay every cent of this odious debt, calculating the total owed at $21-billion. The French government laughed off the demand.
On Monday, we will learn what French President Nicolas Sarkozy will do to save Haiti. In our Alice in Wonderland world, France is considered a donor to Haiti, rather than a beneficiary. Obviously $21-billion is a lot of money for Haiti, whose total 2008 revenues were less than $1-billion for a population of around nine million; by comparison, the province of Quebec, with a slightly smaller population, had revenues of $63-billion.
Hard to believe now, but in the 18th century Haiti was France's imperial jewel, and thanks to African slave labour the largest sugar exporter in the world.
